Love and Acceptance

As most of you are aware, my Mom has been coming to Church periodically. This in itself is mind boggling...to me. You see, she was raised in a very strict Catholic home. I was then raised in a not-so-strict, but Catholic, home. Everyone in my Mom's family is Catholic, that's just how it is...and anything else is unheard of. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong (in my eyes) with being Catholic. It's just that most people I know of that religion aren't "practicing." Now my Grandmother, she is Catholic through and through and I know I will see that lady in heaven. But, she is the exception in my family. Anyway, my Mom didn't truly find the Lord in any Church. She was by herself in her own home. Very cool. My point? She has opened her mind to other possibilities, obviously, or she sure wouldn't be coming to our Church. And now...she has been inviting others to our Church as well. My Mom owns her own business. She has investment properties, remodels and repairs houses. Yes, she actually does the work...along with her "crew." Her "crew" consists of Angie (who brought her boyfriend to Church a couple of weeks ago) and some really, really rough guys. They are great guys, they have just really had a rough way to go...never being shown love and acceptance. This is something we take for granted. We think we are having a bad day when our hair doesn't look quite right or we have a headache or, heaven forbid, someone hurt our feelings. Most of us don't know what a bad day is. These are people that never had parents that even cared about them...Alcoholic or drug addicted parents...so consumed in their habits and themselves to be there for their kids. I can't imagine not caring if my small (or big for that matter) kids were home or not...not caring who they were with...not caring what they were doing...allowing them out of their own guilt to drink and do drugs........I won't pretend to know what that is like but, from what Mom says, these are descriptions of the homes her "crew" came from. They aren't used to hearing kind words or encouragement of any kind. They are used to hearing how worthless they are. She has been witnessing to them on daily basis, not preaching at them, but witnessing...through her actions. She has been trying to show them that there are actually people out there that will care about them, that will love and accept them as they are. This concept just doesn't seem possible to them...they don't know anything other than how they have lived until now. I could go on and on about how, in little ways, God is showing himself to these guys through my Mom every day. Finally, they have agreed to come to Church on Sunday. Hopefully the "punk" :) doesn't swoop in and keep this from happening. But, if you see that my Mom has a bunch of guys with her on Sunday...PLEASE...help me show them love and acceptance.